Wallflower Dispatches

Our village is only listed in some of the more specialised guidebooks, those that go into great detail about Provence and the Côte d’Azur.
From a tourist point of view, there is nothing special about our village. It has never won any prizes in categories such as “Plus Beaux Villages de France”, it has no gourmet [...]

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Piglet 1 is a tomboy, a “garçon manqué”, a “Mädchen zum Pferdestehlen”. She operates at 150 miles an hour whether she is eating, speaking, thinking, reading, running, playing, or working. She is utterly fearless, super enormous fun, possesses a heart of great kindness, not easily fooled and thoroughly honest. She won’t dish the dirt with [...]

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February is the time of year when everything turns YELLOW and spring is in the air.
Yesterday it all turned white. Escota who manages the motorways here has announced 40cm of snow.
The roads are closed, life is paralysed, we are asked to use electricity sparingly and not leave the house.
Life isn’t only sunshine on the Côte [...]

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When the temperature rises to “mellow balmy evening” any time between May and late September, dinner party guests are often seen leaving the table after the main course and before dessert.
In groups of six or eight (depending on the length of the guest list), they traipse through the narrow streets with a small rectangular [...]

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The first days of rain towards the last days of summer arrive without warning or prior announcement, forcing the blue skies to move on. And in an instant gone are the memories of languid days on the beach basking in the sun.
The drips fall slowly and loudly, bouncing off the terracotta roof tiles. Soon [...]

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Law and order is strictly enforced in Provence as long as it falls into the hours of 8.30 – 12.00 and then again at 15.30 – 17.00. Most preferably it should not interfere with lunch or the 11 o’clock espresso either. Neither law nor order is above a cosy chat with an old acquaintance.
Our [...]

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Fritz, the German painter and his Jewish companion Camille lived in this village for almost forty years.
First, they occupied a villa on the side of the mountain where they entertained and formed a small part of the social scene (such as it is), the tone and tempo of which had been set by les [...]

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Despite an occasional whinge from Piglet 1 and Piglet 2 about leaving the grey skies and green eyes of British suburbia, both know and appreciate the freedom they have gained in exchange.
Being typical piglets, they were happy to dig in the mud thrown up by months of rain, but the sunshine of Southern France allows [...]

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Photo via Flickr

In the opininon of Émile, our builder neighbour, parts of our house are over 400 years old. The smallest and darkest room was known in the village as la toilette des chats.
It used to belong to an antique dealer three villages along who had abandoned the lower part of the building and used [...]

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The general qualifying criteria for a successful Mediterranean holiday – beautiful, warm weather – can be a burden to those who attempt to live their routine throughout the hot summer months.
Between early June and late August the most exhausting chore of all is to harness daily life and keep it on track. It is a [...]

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